


Bath Bombs and Other Matters of the Heart

by boniface



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 10:11:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16679635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boniface/pseuds/boniface
Summary: Jared and Richard go to Lush. A tumblr prompt from July.





	Bath Bombs and Other Matters of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [joycecarolnotes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joycecarolnotes/gifts).



> This was a tumblr prompt I posted in July but I don't want to lose it if tumblr goes down so I moved it over here.

There’s this thing Richard has learned about Jared.

Well, there are a lot of things.

But this specific thing. It’s not something Richard had to be told, not the horrifying details from Jared's childhood that could make up, like, a dozen of the Lifetime movies Richard’s mom watched on Friday nights when he was a kid.

No, this is something Richard learned on his own from just paying attention to Jared. Watching the way that his face works. Now Richard knows the look when Jared is mentally flagellating himself for wanting something.  

Because Jared denies himself things that he wants. Not everything. There are plenty of things that Jared enjoys. 8-part documentaries, knitting, bird watching, mahjong, hot yoga.

But, like, Richard has noticed how Jared’s eyes light up when he sees something he wants, how then just as quickly his smile tightens and falls, how his brow furrows and his lips purse. 

There was the time Priyanka’s girlfriend surprised her with hipster SF pastries for her birthday and Jared’s face did the thing before he politely declined. That was the first time Richard noticed it (his own face and fingers sticky with sugar from his “cruffin”). 

At first, he thought it was because of Jared’s long list dietary restrictions.

But then he noticed it again and again. When Jared saw that Joan Osborne was coming to San Francisco and didn’t buy tickets. When Monica invited Jared to get a manicure with her and he declined. When he found a first edition copy of a Judy Blume book at a second-hand store and walked away from it. Eventually, it clicked for Richard. Jared denies himself the stuff he thinks the stuff he thinks he doesn’t deserve. Things he thinks are too good for him.

This makes a disturbing amount of sense considering all the other stuff about himself that Jared willingly offers up. 

Every time Richard notices it, his stomach clenches. He wants to fucking hurt someone in those moments. Many someones, who are long gone but left their marks. He wants to heal those marks. He wants to… to fucking do something.

He gets his chance when they go to the Stanford Shopping Center. Ostensibly, they’re there to buy clothes for Richard, who has to go to a yacht party and hasn’t owned a pair of shorts that weren’t meant for basketball (hilariously) since he was twelve. But he sees Jared’s face as they pass the black brick storefront of Lush. Richard sees the beginnings of the mental self-denial gymnastics.

Richard used to think he wasn’t good at noticing things about people. But maybe, he thinks, a bit guiltily, that he didn’t really care enough about anyone else to notice. Because Richard really cares about Jared in a weird terrible way that he’s never cared about anyone else; it’s a way that Richard doesn’t want to think more about at this moment. More so, right now, he just wants Jared to have something he wants.

So he says, “Let’s, ah, go in,”

“Of course,” Jared, who is holding more than his fair share of bags, continues walking toward the Bloomingdale’s they were heading toward, to begin with. Richard stops and so does Jared a few paces ahead of him.

“No, ah, I, um, meant the Lush.” He points. Jared furrows his eyebrows.

“You want to go in Lush?”

“Yeah, I can get some, um, soap.” Jared’s face brightens.

“Oh, of course. Your self-care is of the utmost importance, Richard!”

Emily, the Lush employee who helps them has a black apron, a septum piercing, and purple hair. She stays very friendly even as Richard stutters and sputters his way through trying different products. They try different moisturizers and shaving creams and face scrubs and soaps. Richard fucking hopes something will catch Jared’s eye but he seems excited to suggest things for Richard to try. 

“Anything else you’re interested in?” Emily asks with a smile. Richard sees his chance.

“Do you want something, Jared? What about a bath bomb? You like baths.”

“Oh, no Richard, It’s a bit indulgent for me… Why don’t you try one though”

“Come on, try this one,” Richard grabs a yellow one off the display and hands it to Jared, who holds it carefully with both hands.

Emily, without missing a beat, starts explaining the product. “That’s the Cheer Up Buttercup. It’s a mood booster with a citrusy mix of neroli, lime and一”

Jared raises the yellow ball to his nose and inhales deeply. His eyes close. “Lemon myrtle! It’s lovely!” Jared is smiling wide, rubbing at the bomb with his thumb. 

Richard is being greedily selfless right now, drinking in the happy look on Jared’s face, a look he put there. The idea of Jared, all long limbs and pale skin lounging in the bathtub with the same look on his face invades Richard’s head.

“We’ll take it!”

“Richard, I can’t.” Fuck. Jared is frowning at him.

“No, no, you have to. You love it. You have to get one.” Richard urges. “I will if you will!”

With that Jared furrows his brow, giving Richard a strange look that in a way seems like a concession. Richard grabs the nearest bath bomb and shoves it into Emily’s hands. “I’ll take this one,”

Emily smiles holding Richard’s bright pink and purple ball and takes Jared’s from him. She leads Richard to the register and Richard pays. Emily starts putting them into the same bag.

“Two bags, thanks,” Richard says.

Emily looks surprised but hands two bags over with a smile. “That’s one Cheer Up Buttercup and one Sex Bomb!”

Richard tries not to blush and nods.

Jared didn’t follow Richard to the register. He’s standing outside the entrance of the store, laden with the other bags. Maybe he’s angry at Richard for not listening to him, but Richard is an idiot. He regularly forgets to listen to Jared, usually over things a lot more important than a bath bomb, right?

“Jared?” Richard says outside the store.

Jared looks at him and he’s fucking crying. No, no, no. Fuck. “Jared, did I一I’m sorry,”

“No!” Jared starts wiping at his eyes. “I’m okay. Thank you, Richard, that was kind of you,”

“It was nothing. Let’s, uh, go sit down for awhile,” Richard says. They don’t make it Bloomingdale’s. They sit on a bench and talk for a bit. Jared cries and smiles and laughs. Richard notices the way his eyes look very blue when watery; the lines around his mouth when he smiles wide; the way certain smiles make his nose look larger, in an endearing way. He wants to learn all of the ways Jared smiles. He wants to be the one to put them there. 

That night Richard takes a bath that smells like jasmine and buys a first edition copy of  _Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret_  on eBay.


End file.
